This invention relates of application of parts to material and, more particularly, to a system wherein selected parts are hopper-fed to and oriented in an off-line parts feeder unit, and then fed from the unit to a mechanism for transfer to a machine for placement of the parts on material being processed on the machine.
In a case where small parts being handled are pour spout fitments for attaching to formed cartons, it is known to remove the fitments one-at-a-time from the exit end of a track and place each fitment through an opening in a top closure panel of a standing, open-topped carton, to be welded into place by an external ultrasonic welding horn. Such placement and welding units are shown and described in GB-A-2,238,287; U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,811; U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,923; U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,374; U.S. Pat. 5,267,934 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,803.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided in combination,
a machine including parts-applying means for applying parts to packaging material on said machine,
a parts-supplying device including parts-supplying means, and
transferring means extending from said device to said machine and serving to transfer said parts from said device to said machine,
characterized in that said device is free-standing relative to said machine.
Owing to this aspect of the invention, it is possible to obtain greater flexibility in the relative positions of the machine and the parts-supplying device and to make the device more readily accessible and of greater capacity than if it were to be mounted at the top of the machine.
If desired, the device may be on the same level, i.e. the same floor, as the machine or may be at a higher or lower level than the machine, for example on a mezzanine floor above the machine.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided in combination,
at least one machine including parts-applying means for applying parts to material on said machine(s),
a parts-supplying device including parts-supplying means, and
transferring means extending from said device to said machine(s) and serving to transfer said parts from said device to said machine(s),
characterized in that the transferring means comprises a plurality of transfer tracks and said device further includes a discharge track for discharging said parts and a distributor arranged to receive said parts from said discharge track and to distribute them among said transfer tracks.
Owing to this aspect of the invention, it is possible for a single parts-supplying device to serve a plurality of parts applicators, whether on one-and-the-same machine, or on respective machines, or both.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided in combination,
a machine including parts-applying means for applying parts to packaging material on said machine,
a parts-supplying device including parts-supplying means, and
transferring means extending from said device to said machine and serving to transfer said parts from said device to said machine,
characterized in that said device has a clean-out track to serve in cleaning-out said parts from said device.
Owing to this aspect of the invention, it is possible to clean-out in an hygienic and automatic manner any parts remaining in the parts-supplying means when an emptying of the latter is desired.
In a preferred embodiment, a free-standing fitment sorting device supplies pour spout fitments to a form, fill and seal packaging machine from a remote, substantially ground level location. Plastics tubes, through which the pour spout fitments may be blown by compressed air, extend from the off-line sorting device to the packaging machine.
The device includes a parts handling bowl which, via centrifugal force created by rotary motion, urges the pour spout fitments toward and through suitable orienting devices to orient the fitments and feed them to a track for transfer to a slide shuttle assembly co-operable with programmable cylinder or servo-driven means for further transfer via the multiple plastics tubes to placement devices which assemble the fitments in any suitable manner onto one or more sets of dual in-line cartons being indexed along conveyors of the packaging machine.